This was all over the news in Detroit yesterday, it's a big deal to us. The heads of the big 3 finally got their meeting with the President yesterday, after being cancelled 3 times.
The main theme was to get someone to listen about fair trade, which the big 3 isn't allowed outside of the US yet Japan and China can import as many vehicles as they wish.
But automakers came away with little more than a photo op, according to one auto analyst. It was Detroit 's day in Washington , and President Bush greeted automakers only days after his party lost control of both houses of Congress and "found a lot in common" with Detroit . The automakers-represented by General Motors' Rick Wagoner, Ford's Alan Mulally and Chrysler's Tom LaSorda-agreed with the tenor of the meeting: "The president clearly understands the importance of the business to the United States and the global economy," Mulally told the AP after the meeting. But did the meeting produce any tangible results on healthcare costs, currency problems with China and Japan , or the increasing costs of vehicle safety? "I think what you saw was a nice piece of political theater," Burnham Securities analyst David Healy told the news agency. However, David Cole of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor , said he saw some long-term potential in the meeting, as it put the auto industry's agenda in a wider context: the visiting execs conveyed "an impression that what the auto industry is dealing with is much larger than the auto industry," he said.
Hattip: The Car Connection
Posted by Quality Weenie at November 15, 2006 07:52 AM | TrackBack